Suspects in Pauktaw Twsp child rape case remain at large

By Nyan Hein 12 Dec 2020

Nyan Hein | DMG
12 December 2020, Sittwe 

A case has been opened after a 12-year-old girl from Nget Chaung Muslim IDP camp in Arakan State’s Pauktaw Township was raped last month, but the suspects remain at large nearly two weeks after the alleged incident took place, according to the Pauktaw Myoma police station.  

Family members of the victim said she was working at the house of a Muslim man identified as Mawlawi Hike Dor Arli, and was taken from her family on November 29 to question her about money in the house that had gone missing. Three men, including her employer, then allegedly raped her near the IDP camp. 

The head of the Pauktaw Myoma police station said the suspects have not yet been arrested, though information about the case and their identities has been communicated to other Muslim IDP camps and local police stations in the area. 

“The investigation is ongoing. We sent photos of the suspects to IDP camps near Nget Chaung IDP camp and other camps in Sittwe as well as to police outposts in villages,” the police officer said. 

The victim received initial medical treatment at the hospital in Pauktaw town before being transferred to Sittwe General Hospital on December 5. 

“I heard that her health condition is better,” an uncle of the victim told DMG. “We want the culprits to be arrested as soon as possible. When police came to arrest them, they fled from the IDP camp.” 

Mawlawi Hike Dor Arli, 44, Adu Gaw Bu, 33, and Zubai, 28, have been accused of the rape, according to family members of the victim. 

The Pauktaw Myoma police station has opened a case against the three suspects under Sections 323, 342, 376, 354 and 144 of the Penal Code, for rape and other offences.